1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a child's car seat of the kind having a safety shield in front of the child, said car seat having a tray embedded in the shield and hidden with a cover when not in use.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is the law in the United States that children below a certain age must be buckled in car seats while they are traveling in an automobile. When a child is buckled in a car seat, his or her movements are very confined. If the child drops his or her toy, cookie, bottle or the like, it must be retrieved by someone else. If the only person not buckled in a child's car seat is the driver, the retrieval of lost items is very difficult, requiring frequent stops or dangerous maneuvers while the car is in motion. For this reason, notwithstanding the law and the possibility that the driver will be ticketed for a seat belt violation or found negligent in the event of an accident, some people do not buckle their children into a child's car seat. These violations are particularly likely to occur on long trips as it difficult to keep a small child happy in a car seat for very long.
The problem of how to keep a child occupied while strapped in a child's car seat has not gone unnoticed. There are infant seat attachments, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,219 to Klinger, that wrap around a safety shield of a child's car seat. Toys and the like can be attached with VELCRO to the wrapper within reach of the child. These wraps, however, do not provide a secure play space for the toy when it is detached from the wrapper, nor do they provide a place for food. What is needed is an container for toys and food within easy reach of a child buckled in a child's car seat, such a container, however, must not present a safety hazard in case of a sudden stop. In addition, to maintain novelty and interest of the child, it is important that the container with the goodies be selectively covered and uncovered at times judged propitious by the parent.